Paranormal Presence
by Macchan51
Summary: As a paranormal investigator/ghost hunter, what Shizuo had always wanted was a partner. He didn't expect it being an annoying flea. Eventual Shizaya, GhostHunter!Shizuo&Izaya, rated M for possible disturbing themes and language, AU
1. Chapter 1

**DAY 1:**

''...the victim named Aoyama Shino, 46, was found dead in her home by the police. The police have yet to-...''

With a single click on a remote control, Shizuo turned the TV off. He doesn't even remember turning it on anyway, and it wasn't like the news gave any useful information about the case he was working on this time.

With the main source of noise gone, Shizuo's hotel room was now dead quiet. Except for the dogs barking outside, but they did little to break his concetration. He was intently staring at the paper in his hand, trying to memorize every single detail written on it, trying to find any useful information regarding the incident, anything he had missed the first seven times he had read it, trying to-...

Groaning, Shizuo dropped the page from a local newspaper back on the tea table, where it had been laying before.

 _Not like glaring at the text is gonn' do me any good. After all, words don't get scared of me, like most of the people back in Ikebukuro do..._

Deciding to take a break, Shizuo stood up and dragged himself to the fridge. It was full of several days old takeout, waiting for someone to throw it out. But since Shizuo's objective was neither eating nor cleaning, he reached further into the fridge and fished out a cold can of beer. He wasn't planning on getting drunk, no, he just figured he may need some alcohol in his veins.

 _'Cuz the fucking smokes are doing shit to calm me down, every time I fucking need them..._

It was at times like this, that Shizuo was seriously pissed at himself for turning down Celty's offer to help him with paranormal investigations. But everytime he tried imagining Celty helping him with ghost hunting, all the could envision was Shinra running after demons and trying to dissect them.

His best friend and her fiance were better off without knowing the dangers of his work anyway. Seeing as Celty was a headless dullahan trying her best to fit among humans, it would only cause her troubles to be involved with the supernatural any more than she already is. Who knows what kinds of traitorous assholes they could run into. Shizuo has also heard of hunters that use contracted paranormal beings to find their prey. Well... Not that he has ever come across a way to kill a dullahan anyway. For all he knew, Celty was immortal and he was more than happy for it.

Shinra, on the other hand, would be an easy target. As a fiance of a dullahan, he could be marked as a traitor and executed as one. He was a human though, not even a spawn of an unlucky affair between a human and a demi-genie or something. No, Shinra was as human as one can be, yet Shizuo didn't dare take him on a hunt with him. He was guaranteed to annoy every single being around, to the point he might even get half of the mortal realm on his tail, before a single day would pass by. Shizuo would probably be included in the crowd.

But, Shizuo thought, if he was to find a person that had atleast the slightest clue about the paranormal, knew how to protect themselves and were (atleas kinda?) reliable, then he wouldn't really mind having a partner. In fact, he would _love_ to have a companion, someone to cover his back..

Aah, he started daydreaming again. Shizuo ran his hand through his bleached golden locks and sighed. No use thinking about hopeless things. What he _should_ be thinking about now was the supposedly haunted house.

 _...but the bed looks really comfy now, too..._

* * *

 **DAY 2:**

 _FUCK!_

It turned out like all of his investigations so far, really.

It started when he noticed a suspicious looking story in the news. He checked all of his sources (the local newspapers and news on the internet... and that was all...). Then he gave up on investigating the location any further and just blindly headed onto the enemy premises. Now that he's here...

Well, he blames it all on the bed!

The clock showed 11:39 PM and he just closed the front door to the house he was going to investigate.

It was an adorable house, actually. It looked like it was built sometime in the 1800s, but restored later on. That was probably the case since, from what Shizuo heard, there were people living here quite recently. But, while the house was cute and everything, the area surrounding it was... slightly disturbing. It was the kind of place where you could find an unmarked grave or a whole cemetery, if only you bothered to look. Dead trees everywhere.

Shizuo turned on his nightvision camera, which was actually the only thing he brought along with him (Also his gun. He never forgets his gun). It is said that ghosts often show on those, even when they can't be seen with naked eye. After double checking that he locked the door ( _Wouldn't want some curious kids to scare the crap outta me now, would I?),_ he proceeded to the first door on his left.

Everything normal so far. The room appeared to be a dining room, with a table and six chairs around it. On the table, which was, along with every other piece of furniture, collecting dust, there was a small vase, with a bouquet of dead flowers inside, probably left there by the last owner of the place.

Deeming this to be nothing out the ordinary, Shizuo continued his examination of the room. He noticed some pretty looking pictures on the wall. Also some creepy ones, which he scanned twice with the camera. Just to be sure.

Deciding there were no spirits in this room, Shizuo advanced to the room ahead. There was only a doorway, without an actual door, leading to the other room, which was, as he discovered, a kitchen.

 _Obviously._

The kitchen was, compared to the dining room, a little bigger, but packed with cabinets. Shizuo didn't think it was necessary to look through every single one of them, but he decided to rummage through the fridge.

 _Who knows where little shits hide these days.._

He regretted his decision as soon as he opened it. When he thought about it later, it should've made sense. After all, the previous owner of the place didn't exactly get _warned_ that they'd die, just so they could throw out the food and clothes. When he opened the fridge, _instantly_ , the smell of weeks old remains of food hit him. It took a lot of willpower to stop himself from puking right then and there. So, unless spirits were immune to terrible odor, he shouldn't have to worry about one hiding in there.

Smacking the door closed, Shizuo was about to continue exploring the kitchen when he heard it.

 _Plink!_

Shizuo instantly froze on the spot, with shivers running down his spine.

Trying hard not to make any sounds, he reached inside his jacket to get his gun and moved behind the door that connected the kitchen and the main hall. Of course, the floor just had to make a **loud** creaking sound. He could practically _feel_ the other presence's attention on him and it was not a pleasant feeling at all. As if it couldn't get any worse, he could now clearly hear soft footsteps heading toward him. Past the door he entered to get to the dining room, past the stairway to the second floor... It stopped right in front of the kitchen door. Shizuo held his breath and he could swear his heart had stopped too.

 _Fuck! I can't fucking kill a spirit with a gun! And I don't even have any salt on me. Oh fuuuuck! It's right fucking there isn't it. Why the hell isn't it coming in?-_

Just as Shizuo thought that, the doorknob moved and the door slowly.. inch by inch... opened.

Shizuo jumped out his hiding place, aiming the gun right at the middle of the thing's forehead-

''Whoa whoa whoa! Okay, that's a gun! Please don't shoot me?''

What he came face to face with wasn't some dead looking spirit, but a black haired and maroon eyed stranger. Human, probably. Who was holding his hands up.

Shizuo lowered his gun, but kept staring at the stranger.

''Okay, that was kinda scary. And rude. Don't you people here have _any_ manners?'' The intruder actually had the nerve to complain and _roll his eyes at him?_ Shizuo decided he didn't like this guy and the sooner he got him to leave, the better.

''Who the fuck are you?''

The stranger only blinked, before his lips stretched in a grin.

''Isn't it kinda rude asking for a name before telling yours? Geez, didn't your parents teach you _anything?_ ''

If Shizuo wasn't seething with anger before, then he certainly was now.

'' 'm not telling my name to a stranger that just broke into a house.''

''Ah, but aren't you tehnically doing the same? Last time I checked, there were no _people_ living here at the moment.''

''I've got a key.'' Was all Shizuo replied. He reached into a pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small key, which he earlier used to get in.

The stranger merely looked at it and grinned again. He made direct eye contact with Shizuo and offered a handshake.

''My name's Orihara Izaya. Pleasure to make your acquaintance! Now, Stranger-san, care to offer your name, or shall I make up a random thing to call you? Ah, don't worry, I've got a _marvelous imagination._ ''

This time, Shizuo had to physically restrain himself from punching the guy in the face. _Izaya, huh?_ Shizuo doubted he would remember that, but it didn't matter. He would call the guy _anything_ but that. He turned around and proceeded to walk away.

''Name's Shizuo. Now, you know where the door is, _so get the fuck out_!''

* * *

Of course, it couldn't be as easy as that. Not only did the pest follow him around, he also never shut up!

They were currently in the living room. If he tried hard enough, Shizuo thought he might be able to tune out the bastard. Then, maybe, the fucker might realise he was being ignored and leave. So Shizuo instead turned his concentration to the room they were in. It was pretty spacious and old-fashionably decorated. The only modern looking thing was the TV in front of a sofa, whcich were bots placed in the middle of the room. Just like in the dining room, the walls were filled with paintings and old photographs. In the corner of the room, there was also a huge bookcase, filled with old books. Shizuo, of course, wasn't interested in any of this and just powered on his camera and started looking for anything unusual. The bastard obviously noticed that.

''Eeh? Shizu-chan, is that a night vision camera? Haha, and a really old model too. Geez, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were a ghost hunter!'' The fuck? ''Haha, but that's impossible. Right?''

The bastard was looking at him, straight in the eyes, as if he was trying to _read_ him or something. But Shizuo didn't have time for any of this, so he decided to be honest.

''I actually am. A ghost hunter.''

The pest only blinked once, twice and started laughing. Honestly, Shizuo kind of expected this. After all, who _normal_ would belive him. Most of the people who know about it think he's some kind of a crazy lunatic.

...

Okay, what the fuck. The bastard was still laughing. There were tears rolling from his eyes, but the asshole _didn't stop._

''Okay, that's enough. _Stop laughing!_ ''

The bastard straightened up, used the back of his hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, while his other hand was on his stomach. He stopped the manic laughter, though some giggles still escaped his mouth from time to time.

''Ahhaha, sorry, sorry! Just didn't expect you to be so honest, you know? Most of the hunters try to use excuses, like that they're from the police or something , b-but.. But you-'' The asshole started giggling again, so Shizuo decided to stop it with a growl. Before it once again escalated in some creepy-ass villain laughter. ''Aaah, sworry, can't help it. You're some weird guy! Haha, what if I was some fat dude that decided to call the police? Wouldn't that be fun?! Hahaha, but on the serious note...-'' He moved a step closer to Shizuo. ''What a coincidence! I'm a hunter too! I mean, I prefer the term Paranormal investigator, but I mean, we kill these things, so the term 'hunter' is also perfectly fine to me!''

Shizuo now looked at Izaya with a perfectly blank face and said:

''A hunter? You must be a complete amateur then.''

Even years later, Shizuo would still regret not filming the look of pure surprise on the guy's face.

''Excuse me?''

Deciding to be nice, ( As annoying as the pest was, he was a hunter, so Shizuo respected him. A little.) he elaborated.

''Seeing as you're here, you must know about a supernatural entity in the house. With your constant talking I'm pretty sure it'll know where we are, before we even discover what it is. And, speaking from experience, that's never a good thing.''

Shizuo expected him to shut up, not start laughing again.

''Ahhahahaha Sh-Shizu-chan... You didn't do your research at all, did you?''

Shizuo decided not to honour him with a reply and only raised his eyebrow in question.

''Oh God, you're serious. Okay. Since _you_ probably don't have the time, I won't go through the whole history of the place. What you need to know is that all the deaths happened in the master bedroom on the second floor. A few decades back, they supposedly had a priest perform some sort of exorcism which, in my opinion, tied the spirit to that particular room. So basically, the spirit probably can't leave the room, so it kills people that enter it. Get it?''

It made perfect sense. And it also meant he spent precious time searching for something that was nowhere near him. Now he regrets not researching yesterday even more.

Without speaking, he left the room and headed for the stairs to the second floor.

''Ah, wait! I forgot to mention something!''

With his left leg already on the second stair, Shizuo turned his head toward the asshole, making sure he made the angriest and most annoyed expresion he could.

'' _What?!_ ''

''Uhhh... Well, the spirit was a vengeful one, right?''

 _Was?_

Shizuo nodded.

''Well, you get rid of those by burning and salting their bones, right?''

Another nod.

''I already did it.''

Another n- _WAIT WHAT?!_

''Whoa whoa whoa! No need to get that angry! I didn't know you were on this case. Anyway, I burned the bones and came to check on the house, when I found you here!''

Shizuo had to pinche the bridge of his nose to calm down. So the job was done already, huh?

His hand twitched for a release of the pent up anger, but Shizuo didn't give in. Instead he lit up a cigarette and marched right out of the house. But even though the job was done, the bastard didn't seem to be leaving. Quite the opposite, actually. He kept following Shizuo toward his car.

''The fuck do you want now?''

''Hey, Shizu-chan, where are you from?''

''Huh? 'm from Ikebukuro, why?''

''Ehe, what a coincidence! I'm from Shinjuku, so I'm gonna be travelling with you from now on! Take care of me, Shizu-chan!~''

''H-huh? Oi-''

Before Shizuo could protest, Izaya was already running to his car, leaving a confused blond behind.

 _The dude's a total blood-sucking flea._

''Ah, almost forgot to mention! Shizu-chan! Next time you try to _shoot a ghost,_ at least make sure the gun is loaded, okay?''

All the rage Shizuo had suppresed for an entire day suddenly burst out in a form of a single punch.

R.I.P. to the tree that happened to be in his reach.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **This is my first multi-chapter story. -3-**

 **If you notice any mistakes, have any comments or criticism about the story, please review or PM me. Thanks!**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**

 **Macchan OUT~**


	2. Myrtles Hotel

_Click click clack click clack..._

The constant typing from the person on the passenger seat made Shizuo _very_ annoyed. After arguing with him for almost an hour, the pest finally shut up, but of course he would find another way of annoying him. When the blond glanced at him, he could see the irritating smirk on the pest's lips. The bastard was definitely enjoying this.

''Oi! Would you mind-'' ''Shizu-chan!''

Seriously irritated from getting cut off mid-sentence, Shizuo gripped the steering wheel of his car harder, mostly to keep himself from punching the brains out of the flea's head.

''I found us a job! Look at this! This family owns a hotel in a city just a few miles down the road we are currently driving on. I did a little research on the history of the family, but I didn't find anything particulary interesting. You know, just the usual stuff. They moved to town two generations back, bought this mansion and turned it into a hotel and so on..''

The blond sighed, not really getting where Izaya was going with this. So, there was an old hotel, run by a family with a totally clean record..?

''What exactly is so unnatural, that made _you_ interested in it? 'Cuz as far as I know, we're ghost hunters, not some weird history nerds.''

''Patience, Shizu-chan! All in due's time!''

The blond growled in impatience, which apparently made Izaya rethink his teasing manners.

''Fine, fine. Anyway, what made me curious was the history of the building itself. You see, just in the past two years, there have been three cases of tragic deaths. A guy committed suicide by repeatedly stabbing himself in the head with scissors. Like, who does that?''

 _Anyone that has ever had the pleasure of meeting you..._

Not aware of Shizuo's inner thoughts, Izaya kept on talking.

''It must've hurt like hell! Then, a year later, a young girl was found in her room after she hadn't answered her phone for two weeks. She was found ripped apart, her right leg and arm and her left ear were never found. And last, a week ago, a woman that was supposedly in charge of cleaning the windows was found impaled on an iron fence in the back yard. And that isn't even all. There were many disappearances, many of which date back as far as 20 years!''

Izaya stopped talking there and Shizuo interpreted that as his cue to give his opinion the matter.

''Well... The last one must have been an accident. She probably fell through the window or something.''

As if he had been expecting the answer, the raven quickly shook his head and explained.

''She was only cleaning on the inside of the windows. It wasn't like she even had to open them or anything. But! Let's say she liked her job to be well done and cleaned the outside too. She opened the window and somehow ended up falling out. You know what's the weirdest part that makes that invalid and impossible? She was working on the first floor! Even if she had fallen through, she would've only ended up with some scratches and bruises,a broken arm at most if she really had a bad day. She wouldn't get impaled on some fence like a piece of meet.''

Even after thinking about it for a few minutes, Shizuo couldn't think of a possible arguement It seemed that they were really dealing with something otherwordly.

''So what d'ya think it is?''

The flea frowned at the question and looked away.

''Honestly, I'd say it is a spirit. I mean, it is an old house and all, so it would make sense..''

The blond sensed a 'but' coming.

'' _But,_ I checked the history of the place. No murders, violent deaths, suicides or disappearances before this family moved in. The building was mostly used as storage for the village. Nothing out of the ordinary. I also checked if there was anything that happened on the ground before the building was built, but unfortunately I found nothing unusual.''

So, they basically had no info on what they were dealing with and will have to, as Shizuo always had, head into the house totally clueless.

So, why had he been putting up with the flea's bullshit so long for, exactly?

As if sensing Shizuo's train of thought, Izaya quickly said.

''It's not like we don't have _any_ clues at all. I mean, whatever is killing the people is obviously tied to the family. We could take some guesses, but I'd rather we investigate it first.''

And with that being said, the newly formed investigation team parked their car on the parking lot f the Myrtles hotel.

* * *

Shizuo was currently carrying Izaya's bags to their room. He never really got to ask what the bastard was keeping in them, but they were definitely too heavy for it to be clothes. And the flea even warned the blond not to drop them a few times, so it had to be something really expensive and important.

While Shizuo was working his ass of, trying to get all the luggage up the stairs, Izaya was doing what exactly?

Abso-fucking-lutely nothing!

The slea bastard was laying on his bed and smirking at his computer.

Though he was kind of curious, Shizuo decided it probably wasn't anything worth talking to the flea about, so he kept his mouth shut.

* * *

''So, how exactly are we supposed to find the culprit?''

Shizuo wasn't sure if trusting Izaya was a good idea. So far, the only thing he has contributed to the case was about two pages of the buliding's history which proved to be totally useless. They were still at square one and Shizuo didn't like it.

''Patience, Shizu-chan! It's still light outside and we both know that most of the creatures we hunt work mostly at night. At least, you _should_ know it. I have no idea how much important info your one-celled brain actually stores.'' Izaya replied.

'' **You-!** You practically search for ways of insulting me, don't you?''

Izaya _giggled._ ''Ehe, caught me red-handed, Shizu-chan! On the more serious note, we are going to investigate the place when the night comes. After all, while I believe that the killer isn't a spirit, they surely trapped some of them here. It's believed that a sudden or a violent death often ties the spirit to their death scene, whether they want revenge or not. And that's what we are actually hoping for.''

It took a few moments of complete silence and Izaya's grin for Shizuo to realize what he was planning.

''Wait. _Are you seriously going to interrogate_ _ **dead people**_ _?''_

Izaya's expression was more of an answer that any of the words he may have had to offer. But Shizuo interuppted him before he had the chance of saying them.

'' _What the hell!_ How do you even plan to do that?''

''Now, Shizu-chan, unlike some of us here, _I_ like to come prepared. There are actually multiple ways of establishing communication with the dead. Don't you watch movies? Surf the social media? Those are full of options, you know?''

The blond sighed. Of course he would have to ask for every single detail separately. The louse _loved_ making him look stupid after all.

''Okay... Care to inform me?''

Shizuo knew it wouldn't be that easy the moment he saw Izaya's mouth form a grin.

''Shizu-chan. Wouldn't hurt to at least try and quess, would it?''

Shizuo's patience was growing thin.

''It also wouldn't hurt to smash your head against the wall until you tell me everything. Wouldn't hurt me, of course.''

Once again, the bastard was laughing.

''So _violent_ Shizu-chan! But, since I'm such a good-hearted person, I'm going to tell you what you wanted to know. As I previously said, there are many ways of comnunicating with spirits of the dead. The more media famous would be an ouija board or a seance, but those often lead to the spirit getting attached to you and following you around. So, I'm pretty sure we both agree, we aren't using any of those.''

Izaya glanced at Shizuo, who nodded in response.

''But! Since I am a very smart guy, I came prepared.''

Izaya turned his back to Shizuo and started rummaging through one of his bags. After a few moments of searching, he brought out a tablet-like device and showed it to Shizuo.

'' _This_ is a little something called a Paranormal Puck 2 device. I won't try to explain how it works to a protozoan like you, but basically... Well, there are thousands of words saved in it, each one saved under specific environmental data... Which means, once the environmental stats reach a certain point, the word will display on tablet... Jeez, explaining complex things to a stupid person is exhausting! _And!_ Before you ask how that will help us talk to a spirit, it's been confirmed that ghosts can manipulate environmental data like temperature and humidity and so on... We just have to hope we end up with an intelligent spirit which will learn how to operate it.''

 **Nightfall**

There was complete silence in the room.

Shizuo swore he could hear Izaya's heartbeat, even though the raven-haired male was currently setting up his equipment on the other side of their room. Hell, he was even sure he could hear _his own_ blood cells travelling around his body through his veins.

Hearing a faint and quiet ''Done!'' from his maroon-eyed partner, Shizuo stood up and walked to the mysterious device. He wasn't entirely convinced this was going to work, but he was willing to give it a try. Anything that would help them prevent anymore deaths.

But, even so, Shizuo was still nervous. In his long career of being a ghost hunter, he rarely used the paranormal as a helping hand for his investigations. He can't even remember if he had ever spoken to a ghost. That is, apart from swearing and yelling at it to get lost. However, learning new ways of obtaining clues and investigating was a perk of having a partner he supposed.

The flea was now setting up an infrared night-vision camera. _'We have to document every piece of evidence_ ', he said. Shizuo also thought it was so they could locate the spirit, in case it turned out to be violent. It was always nice to know the location of the being you were speaking to, malevolent or not.

Slightly bored, Shizuo turned his attention to the window in their room. When booking in for the night, the flea insisted they share a room, because it would apparently make the investigation easier on both of them. The blond didn't really care, though he enjoyed imagining the real reason was something like the flea being afraid of staying alone in a haunted hotel. Seeing as the bastard seemed to be an experienced hunter, it was obvious that that wasn't the case, but Shizuo couldn't help but secretly hope it was something like that.

After booking the room, Izaya also shared one small detail, which made Shizuo want to punch the living lights out of the bastard. Apparently the room they were staying in, was the room in which the first... _incident_... happened. Which would mean, the spirit most likely to come in contact with them, was the girl that committed the gruesome suicide. And Shizuo _sure as hell_ wasn't looking forward to that.

The blond was now standing next to the window. He made sure not to come too close to it, remembering the unfortunate death that occured here just a while ago. It was already dark outside, a few stars showing on the parts of the sky that wasn't covered in clouds. It kind of calmed Shizuo down a little. He would surely hate to do this on a stormy night. There were some rumours saying spirit activity almost doubles on stormy nights. Shizuo never bothered to listen to the detailes of that.

Shizuo glanced at his partner again, seeing Izaya place some sound recorders around the room. He was actually happy that the flea was taking his job seriously. He would hate to end with a lazy person that'd do nothing to contribute to the investigation. No, he was taking this seriously and it made dealing with flea's teasing a lot easier.

Izaya was apparently done with the preparations and motioned Shizuo closer.

''Well, that's it. Just to be clear, are you familiar with any of the equipment I brought in? You will probably be seeing a lot of it in the future.''

Shizuo took a slow look across the room. He had worked with night-vision cameras before. The so-called Paranormal Puck device was a first for him, but the flea explained it earlier. He still wasn't entirely sure he understood how it worked, but he could just _see and learn._ Other than that, the only things in the room that were used for paranormal investigations were the _EMF detectors_ and _sound recorders_. Shizuo knew the EMF detector was used for detecting some sort of energy ghosts left behind, meaning it would show them if a ghost appeared in the room. And lastly, sound recorders were most used for EVP sessions. The blond knew EVP was something called Electric Voice Phenomena, basically recorded voices of the dead.

Shizuo nodded.

''So then, _how about we get the show started_?''

* * *

This chapter was basically just an introduction to the case and the basic Ghost hunting equipment for those who aren't familiar with it. I am _extremely_ sorry for it being kinda late, I was hoping to get it finished in a week(≖͞_≖̥)

I'm hoping to publish the next chapter next week, since I have a bit more time to write now c:

As always, notify me if you spot mistakes and see you soon!~

Macchan OUT~


End file.
